Pioneering

Chapter 146 Selection
My name is Ma Gan, let’s just call it that, anyway, I don’t have a name, everyone calls me Ma Gan, so I will call it Ma Gan.

I don't have a home, or ever did.

It is said that my father was once a warrior and almost won a knighthood on the battlefield.But unfortunately, near the end of the war, he lost his life there.

In order to marry a rich man from the countryside with a mill, my mother swept away a small pension, dumped me to my grandfather, and then disappeared.

Soon after, Grandpa also left this world.

I had to sell everything I could, including the shabby apartment.

But the money ran out quickly.

In order to make a living, I wanted to serve as a soldier for the lord, but the lord thought I was too thin and didn't want me.

So, I exchanged the winter clothes my grandfather sewed for a crappy axe, and planned to chop wood for a living.

Alas, there are too many taxes on my lord, the more I work hard, the less money I can make.

Winter is here, so cold... I miss the clothes my grandpa sewed for me.

I'm so hungry, may the gods forgive me, I didn't mean to be a villain.

I once thought about being a thief, but those people thought I was too tall and said they would break my legs and turn me into a beggar to ask for money.

Thank goodness I can run fast.

I want to be a robber again, alas, hell, why can't I find a robber den?

I'm so hungry, really hungry.

Cockroaches, weeds, bark, ... Thanks to Ms. Spring, I will not starve to death for a while.If only he could make the hare run slower.

I'm still so hungry, I feel like I'm starving to death.

God!Thank the gods, thank the new king, he is so generous, he actually gave us money!
May the gods bless him to rule the land forever.

It's been a long time since I tasted black bread, it's so delicious.

Alas, the money is really cheap, but it is still much more durable than before.

I'm running out of money again, damn it, why didn't I grab a little more the other day?I am so silly.

What should I do.

It would be great if His Majesty the King could send the money again.

Am I being a little too greedy?

I heard that the new church no longer collects taxes, but they can still get money by praying to their gods.

It's too fake, it sounds like an unorthodox church digging out people's internal organs to sacrifice to evil gods.

But what if it is true?Shall I go and have a look?

"Bang bang—"

Hey, what happened in the village?Could it be that His Majesty the King is going to send money again?
……

On the half of the millstone under the jujube tree at the head of the village, a tall and thin young man in golden missionary uniform stood on the millstone, beating gongs and drums, waiting for everyone to arrive.

"It's really easy to use." The priest admired His Majesty's great creativity while looking at the crowd, thinking silently.

Seeing that the pasture was almost filled with people, the priest shouted to the crowd, "Is everyone here?"

"It's all set, it's all set."

"Master Maud, has His Majesty the King issued another decree?"

"It's not repentance, isn't it tax-free?"

"Quiet, quiet!" Maude shouted with a serious face, and used the magic spell. Brilliance.

The principle of this technique relies on Zhong Ming's material transformation authority, which converts the air around the caster into fluorescent substances. The effect lasts for about 3 minutes and consumes ten gift points.

If it wasn't for official actions that can be reimbursed, Moder would never be willing to spend such a gift.

It's all money, ah no, it's all my belief in Your Majesty!

As the bright light bloomed, the scene fell silent for a moment, and some villagers even knelt down and prayed silently.

Seeing that these villagers were shocked by his magic, Maude looked around with satisfaction and said:
"Gentlemen and ladies, His Majesty the Pope is our Grand Duke Asshai. He is great and benevolent. He is the spokesperson of the god of wealth and justice. He is the will of the gods in the world. How could he go back on his word?"

Because Zhong Ming pioneered the gift point system to give back to believers, as well as the teachings and slogans that "labor and harvest are equal in value", the titles of "metal master" and "mechanical and industrial protector" are far from "wealth" and "wealth". Justice" has a resounding name.

"Your Majesty said that you will be exempted from taxes and chores for a year, so you will be exempted from taxes for a year.

Whoever dares to ask you to pay taxes this year is to provoke His Majesty, the Church, and the gods! "

"I came here today because of..."

"Sorry, sorry, I'm late."

The panting "Ma Gan" came late in a hurry, shouting in a panic while running from a distance to the periphery of the crowd.

He looked like he was afraid that he would not be able to pay the money.

Maud frowned, and scolded: "If you come late, you will come late, why are you shouting? Go to the outer circle and squat."

After speaking, he pointed to the crowd squatting together, and signaled "Ma Gan" to join the line quickly.

As soon as "Ma Gan" was reprimanded, seeing that he was not giving out money, he obsessively found a peripheral place, half-squatting and half-sitting on the ground.

It's not that he doesn't respect the new Grand Duke, but that there's nothing he can do. This posture saves the most effort.

Panicked by hunger, he ran halfway across the village in a hurry, getting even hungrier.

Seeing that the crowd became quiet again, Maude coughed twice, and continued to speak loudly: "I came today to inform you that Yasha is going to recruit workers, and it is a big recruitment!"

The crowd suddenly exploded:

"Mr. Priest, didn't you say that the handyman was exempted?"

"Yes, yes, didn't you just say that?"

"That's right, Your Majesty, he is the incarnation of God, so you can't count what you say."

Morde frowned, and once again cast the divine spell. Brilliance.

The dazzling light once again shocked the noisy villagers.

"It's said that tax and miscellaneous labor will be exempted, and tax and miscellaneous labor will be exempted. Naturally, you will not go back on your word. Why are you arguing?"

"Touch your conscience, Your Majesty will exempt you from taxes and chores, and will also send you money.

In the entire continent, which country will treat you so well?
How dare you doubt Your Majesty? "

"I don't even look at what you look like, what status, are you worthy of His Majesty's reputation? Are you worthy?"

When Maud said this, it was inevitable that he would be a bit condescending and disgusted, even not long ago, he was only one of these people.

"Ahem," Maude said, seeing that the villagers couldn't hold their heads up because of what he said, he felt a little complacent, and said,

"The recruiting this time is not like working for those nobles in vain before. My great majesty, I will pay you wages! Take care of your meals! Five meals a day! You can see meat once every two days!"

The crowd exploded again:

"Mr. Priest, is it true?"

"Pay wages, take care of meals?"

"Am I right?"

Maude's forehead was wrinkled again, and he couldn't help being a little angry:

Troubles, a group of trolls, dare to question His Majesty the Pope and the Principality, causing him to waste gift points again and again, he is simply an asshole.

Originally, I wanted to get some rebates, so I could exchange some money with gifts, but now the quota is all used for luminescence!
The dazzling brilliance stung the eyes of the villagers again, and Maude shouted with a little anger:
"Shut up and listen to me.

This recruitment is not like before, it is not mandatory, love comes or doesn't come!
You don't even look at what you look like, are you worthy of our efforts to cheat? "

This statement was very reasonable, and the villagers were somewhat persuaded by him for a while.

"Now let me explain in detail. This recruitment is mainly because His Majesty wants to build roads. He needs to build a lot of roads. He needs to recruit a large number of people to do the work, such as digging foundations, driving piles, and paving roads.

One silver coin per person per month for ordinary people building roads;
If you are a craftsman, it will be useful after passing the test, and you will get five silver coins a month!

No matter what you do, you still get [-]% of the performance bonus every month. The performance bonus is...

Only 12 years of age or older can sign up. "

"In addition, His Majesty wants to recruit a group of new soldiers, the standing army! Not conscripts!
You group of people have never been able to get a good job in ten lifetimes, the iron rice bowl!

This only needs to be between the ages of fourteen and 30. "

"Now, those who are willing to work stand under the tree, those who are willing to serve as soldiers stand by the well, and those who are not willing to squat down for me!"

The unbearable crowd split into two groups in an instant, the big group ran to the bottom of the tree, and the small group ran to the well.

Those who rushed to the bottom of the tree were mostly women and some middle-aged men with families;

Those who rushed to the well were mostly unmarried young men eager to avoid the obstruction of their family members and want to enter the army to establish a career.

There were no old people there, only some young children.

Not long ago, this was the Principality of Yige, and many places in the Principality of Yige had the custom of "abandoning the old".

So there are no elderly people over the age of 60 here.

"Being a soldier for His Majesty, you should be able to eat enough, right?" Ma Gan thought about the scene of those well-armored and majestic soldiers standing on the carriage throwing money a few days ago, and he ran to the well involuntarily.

"Very good." Maud looked at the crowd, heaved a sigh of relief, and said to himself: My task is finally almost completed.

He took out a stack of paper and a pen, and shouted to the crowd:

"All the soldiers line up for me, and first step forward to register for me one by one."

"The workers also line up for me, stand there and wait first."

……

As the sun went on, the crowd continued to shrink forward, and soon it was Ma Gan's turn.

Maude looked at the young man who was so thin that his cheekbones could be seen clearly, and frowned, a little unhappy: This body type, can't pass the screening test?The performance is one less.

"Name?"

"Ma Gan." Ma Gan looked at him who was wearing an exquisite priest's uniform, shrugged his shoulders, and lowered his head.

Maude was melancholy and said, "Can you change your name?"

"what?"

"Let me tell you to change your name! This name has been used several times, and even the first and last name have been repeated several times. How do you want me to remember?"

Maude was a little frustrated: Why is this village named either Sickle and Hammer or Mill and Windmill? Even the surnames are similar, there are too many duplicate names!
"My lord, I don't know, why don't you choose one for me." Ma Gan said with some embarrassment.

Maud frowned, glanced at the clouds blown away by the wind in the distance, and said helplessly, "Then you'll be called 'Ford'."

"Thank you, my lord. Then my name will be Ford."

Ford, its pronunciation means wind in Assyrian.

No one knew that the names of the future famous Mechanic Master of the Zoya Continent, the Twelve Sages of the Fortune Church, and the saints were randomly decided.

"age?"

"Fourteen? . . . maybe fifteen," said Ford, a little embarrassed.

"What is possibility? Don't you know how old you are?" Maude was a little angry. No matter how poor he is, he can't even remember his age, right?

Ford said humbly: "My lord, I'm sorry, I'm an orphan, I really don't know how old I am."

Maude was silent, recalling that he was just an orphan begging on the street not long ago. Thanks to the good words he had cultivated in begging all the year round, after coming into contact with the Fortune Church, and relying on his excellent missionary ability, he became an official priest With his identity, he has a decent job, and he can live a dignified and respected life...

"Thank you my lord, thank you His Majesty the Pope, thank you Yasha." Maude praised in his heart.

Maude looked at Ford again as if he saw himself before, and his tone was much gentler: "Then I will write you fifteen, you are so tall, fifteen is also appropriate."

"Gender, um—male."

"Home address?"

"Little Windmill Village."

"No details?"

"...My lord, I have no home, and I have no fixed place to live."

"Okay, okay." Maude realized that the boy in front of him was much more miserable than himself, and he still had a fixed broken house to shelter from the wind.

"Appearance - brown hair, white face with freckles, beardless, about 1.9 meters tall, thin build."

"Go, first put your hand on the transparent ball on the left to count dozens, and then put your hand on the compass on the right to count dozens." Maude absent-mindedly drove Ford to test his talent.

The transparent crystal ball is a portable magic item refined by Zhong Ming according to the method obtained from the devil Salt to test the energy affinity talent of the wizard attribute.

In fact, the shape of this kind of prop is random, but Zhong Ming felt that this shape was more suitable for the wizard profession, so he made it into a crystal ball.

The compass is a tool that Zhong Ming deduces and manufactures to test the compatibility of aura.

Although the energy of aura has just appeared in the world of Zoya, theoretically speaking, it is unlikely that there will be people who can adapt to this energy, but for him who has the authority of "substance conversion", it will not take much trouble to get it out.

Ford carefully imitated the actions of the previous villagers, and reached out to the crystal ball.

The blazing golden light was suddenly released from the crystal ball, and immediately shone around, stinging the eyes of the surrounding people.

Maude thought that he would be like the previous villagers and get nothing. Seeing this scene, he instantly became refreshed.

After the light stabilized, he looked at the scale on the crystal ball, was overjoyed, and raised his pen to write:
"Metallic Energy Affinity - Advanced Affinity 90."

I have to be happy, otherwise it is disrespect for wealth and status. Zhong Ming ordered a reward. For every seedling with the talent of a wizard or alchemist, the discoverer will be rewarded according to the talent level:
Ten gold coins for low affinity, one hundred gold coins for medium affinity, one thousand gold coins for high affinity, and ten thousand gold coins for super affinity.

In addition, each wizard seed will also bring additional gift points to the priests, a large number of gift points.

Favor points are better than gold in the eyes of the priests.

Because gift points can be used to cast magic to make gold, and can be promoted to positions in the church, and gold is just gold.

At this moment, in Maude's eyes, Ford is no longer a poor ghost who is connected with his own fate, but a thousand gold coins walking, which is his hope for promotion!

He even regretted why Ford's talent couldn't be a little bit better, a little bit, that's a tenfold gap!
Under Maud's eager gaze, Ford put his hand on the right compass, and, as expected, there was no response.

However, this does not affect the more he looks at Maude, the more pleasing to the eye.

"Son, are you interested in learning about Fortune Church? I am willing to baptize you and be your godfather."

Maud said in the most gentle and amiable tone in his life, persuasively.

He knew it well, and he didn't dare to mention marrying a daughter, adopting a son, or other ways to bind Ford, he just became a godfather to get acquainted.

Because he knows that he is not qualified to get involved in such a talented person, only His Majesty is qualified.

Ford was flattered for a moment, and he didn't know what to say.

"Come on, kid, be hungry, eat something."

Looking at Ford who was shaking as if he was about to fall at any moment, Maud took out a piece of soft white bread - this is the lunch he prepared for himself, and handed it to Ford.

Ford had never seen white bread before. Smelling the delicious smell of wheat, his body's hunger made him stretch out his hand unconsciously.

Maud looked at Ford, who was crying while eating, and couldn't stop smiling.

……

This kind of recruitment and selection, with the support of Zhong Ming's personal transfer of knowledge and the support of hundreds of priests selected, quickly spread from the central province to the whole of Yaxia.

(End of this chapter)